e-Paper
A new coach, new mentor and a new home – India’s P.V. Sindhu has overhauled her life in an all-out bid to land an Olympic badminton gold in Paris this July, after having to settle for silver and bronze in the previous two Games.
She is now living in Bengaluru, India, far from Hyderabad, where she trained through most of her career, the highlights of which include bagging the singles silver in Rio 2016, bronze in Tokyo and being crowned world champion in 2019.
The move in October was deemed essential for Sindhu, who wanted to be closer to her new mentor, Prakash Padukone, the Indian badminton great and father of Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone.
That was not the only change she has made as she gears up to be “smarter” for the 2024 Olympics in France, having in recent months replaced several members of her team, from her personal fitness trainer to her physiotherapist.
Indonesia’s Agus Dwi Santoso is now coaching Sindhu, who parted company with Malaysia’s Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, whom she initially said last July she would work with after splitting with long-time coach Park Tae-sang earlier in 2023.
“I’d been training with Hafiz and then I wanted some change – I thought it was not suiting my game – and that’s when I asked Agus,” Sindhu told Reuters.
“It’s a new year, a new team. Every aspect I touch on is going to be completely different. Paris is something that’s an ultimate game for us. I think we need to be 100 per cent in every aspect, physically, in skill and in strategy.
Sindhu, who has previously raised awareness about the stigma surrounding prioritising mental health in sports, said she also has a “mental trainer”.
“Some of it is meditation but, at the same time, it’s important that you know what’s going on in your head while playing, there’s a lot of pressure or responsibility, a lot of expectation,” she said.
Sindhu is the only Indian to become badminton world champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Games.
“If I want to achieve something – and my aim is to achieve the Olympic gold – then I would do anything for it,” she said. “It means everything to me.”
However, Sindhu has found the going tough in recent months, following her attempts to bounce back on the world stage after fairing poorly last season mainly because of an ankle injury.
On April 11, she lost in the last-16 of the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China. The world No. 12 went down to world No. 7 Han Yue 18-21, 21-13, 17-21.
A fortnight earlier, Sindhu suffered a quarter-final exit at the Spain Masters in Madrid when she went down fighting to Thai sixth seed Supanida Katethong 24-26, 21-17, 22-20.
Frustrated at not having pulled it off, second seed Sindhu smashed her racket on the court, perhaps for the first time in her career, to earn a yellow card from the chair umpire.
Sindhu had a good chance of ending her title drought – her last title came at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July 2022. But she fluffed her lines again through erratic play.
National coach Vimal Kumar believes Sindhi is a top player and has the wares to make a mark in Paris. But, at 28, her physical powers are certainly diminishing.
“Sindhu has the net game but needs better shot selection and quicker reactions,” said Vimal.
Sindhu has pulled out of the Uber Cup, which will be held in Chengdu, China from April 28 to May 5, in a bid to better prepare for the Olympics.
Reuters
“If I want to achieve something – and my aim is to achieve the Olympic gold – then I would do anything for it.”
